Tag: Santa Clara County

Issues affecting all of Santa Clara County.

Christmas Giving…and Taking

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Transit riders in the South Bay are in for major changes on December 28.  That’s when the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will make major changes to bus and light rail service throughout Santa Clara County.  Read and learn more on how your bus and light rail service will be affected on December 28 here.

Our own Monica Mallon was interviewed for a story on ABC 7 News about the service changes. That news story aired December 26 throughout the day.

While VTA is adding service on major bus lines like the 22 and 70, they are also ending service on some bus lines like the 45 and 65.  As the agency converts a limited stop bus line to a rapid bus line (323 to 523), they are eliminating the 304, 321, 328, and 330.  (Some of these bus lines run along county expressways.).  As VTA enables direct light rail service between Mountain View, the Great Mall, Milpitas BART stop, and Alum Rock, it will close the Almaden light rail spur.  (One final group round trip between Ohlone-Chynoweth and Almaden will be on December 27 at 9:30pm.)

The same ABC 7 News story noted that all VTA bus and light rail service will run FREE from December 28-31. On New Year’s Eve, VTA will run a normal weekday schedule, with extra late night service on the 181 express bus line between Warm Springs and 2nd/Santa Clara in San Jose.

We’re looking for stories from you on how the VTA service changes after December 28 will affect your transit travel.  Please comment below, on our Facebook page, or our Twitter feed.  We will soon have tips on what YOU need to do come January 9 to start restoring transit service in Santa Clara County.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

December VTA Board Meeting Highlights

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Key events occurred at the December 5, 2019 Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board Of Directors’ meeting.  County Supervisor Cindy Chavez was elected Board Chair for 2020.  By an 8-4 vote, Sunnyvale City Council Member Glenn Hendricks was elected Board Vice-Chair for 2020.  The press for public disclosure of things continued, and more.

Read on for more of what happened at this Board meeting…

Read more →

Major Transit Service Changes Coming

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Major changes to your bus and light rail service in Silicon Valley are coming.  On December 28, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will make major changes to its bus and light rail service, adding new bus lines, closing down the Almaden light rail spur, and eliminating some bus lines.

Learn how YOU will be affected by these changes.

Meanwhile, let us know how VTA’s service changes will affect you thru any of these methods:

More on these transit service changes, and how you will be affected, will be in a separate post.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Keep Fighting the Good Transit Fight

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Also from Monica Mallon:

Please come to the board meeting and make a comment on item 9.5 asking the board to reallocate 2016 Measure B funds from highways to transit operations to improve bus service!!!

Hi folks – This is the *MOST* important VTA Board meeting for the next the YEAR.

Read more →

Needed: Directly-Elected VTA Board Members

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Inside the Santa Clara County Supervisors' chambers.

Inside the Santa Clara County Supervisors’ chambers where VTA Board Of Directors’ meetings are held.

Tired of reading story after story on how VTA wastes your money and is mismanaged?  Tired of being forced to drive in traffic gridlock because of VTA’s service cuts over the years, rooted in their mismanagement? Now is your best chance to help change it all for the better.  The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) wants your input on how it seeks to be governed in the future.

VTA created a survey to take your input, which includes several questions.  They are also taking your phone calls at (408)952-4200 to take in your input, until December 6.  A public meeting will be held December 20 to further discuss restructuring; details will be posted when information is available.

Recall back in June on how the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury trashed VTA’s poor governance in their 61-page report.  A story from the Mountain View Voice on the Grand Jury report sums up one key recommendation:

The grand jury report lays much of the responsibility for this dysfunction on the VTA Board of Directors. The 12-member governing board consists entirely of political appointees who must be currently serving as city council members or on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Often, board members face a steep learning curve, and it doesn’t help that they often lack any experience in transportation, finance or management of an agency of this size, the report says.

Having a directly-elected VTA Board of Directors is something our group has been fighting for since 2003. Back then, we were known as the Santa Clara VTA Riders Union (SCVTARU). A story in the November 12 edition of the Silicon Valley Business Journal gives some examples of how other transit agencies throughout the nation are governed.

In that online survey and at (408)952-4200, make sure you ask VTA to have a directly-elected Board of Directors.  You can do that on Question #6 in the survey.  In Question #7, make sure to ask for public transit service throughout Santa Clara County, not just for downtown and East San Jose.

It is past time to bring much-needed accountability to public transit in Santa Clara County.  Part of a better nation, as Internet essayist Jim Wright would remind us, starts when you elect a better government.  Let’s start fighting for some of that better government for public transit today.  Getting that better government starts when YOU take that survey and make that phone call.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users